Conference surprises ....

The thing that surprised me most when I went to my first (and second) RWA conference was the attendees. I'm not talking about the aspiring writers. I'm talking about the published ones.

Very few of them look like their cover photos. They're kinda like their photos, but ....

The same thing happened when I went to my first RT convention. Okay, there were the hunky guys running around, the way-too-suggestive ads, etc., but the authors ... who knew so-and-so was really middle-aged? Who knew she wasn't the perky, funny little thing I thought she was.

I think that's when it really hits me: we sell fiction and part of the fiction is us. I don't mean to be snark, it's just the truth. We have to sell ourselves as well as our product and when you can't rely on personality (meeting and greeting, as it were), you gotta rely on that web site, that promo piece and yes, that photograph.

It made me re-think several promo efforts I'd been considering and look at this business in a new way. Always a good thing ....